Massive armada moving towards Iran, says Trump amid deadly protests

Death toll in protest crackdown tops 5,000

The death toll from Iran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests reached at least 5,002 people killed Friday, activists said, warning many more still were feared dead. 

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency offered the death toll, saying 4,716 were demonstrators, 203 were government-affiliated, 43 were children and 40 were civilians not taking part in the protests. It also added that more than 26,800 people had been detained. 

The agency's figures have been accurate in previous rounds of unrest in Iran and rely on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

 

Iran's government offered its first death toll Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. It added that 2,427 of the dead in the demonstrations that began December 28 were civilians and security forces, with the rest being “terrorists.” 

The US military meanwhile has moved more military assets toward the Mideast, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated warships traveling with it from the South China Sea. 

Trump said Thursday aboard Air Force One that the US is moving the ships toward Iran “just in case” he wants to take action. Trump also mentioned the multiple rounds of talks American officials had with Iran over its nuclear program prior to Israel’s 12-day war against Iran in June, which saw US warplanes bomb Iranian nuclear sites. 

US threatens to starve Iraq of its oil dollars 

Washington has threatened senior Iraqi politicians with sanctions targeting the Iraqi state — including potentially its critical oil revenues — should armed groups backed by Iran be included in the next government, four sources told Reuters. The warning is the starkest example yet of Trump's campaign to curb Iran-linked groups’ influence in Iraq.

 

Completely false: Iran on execution halt claims

 

Iran’s top prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi, on Friday denied a claim by US President Donald Trump that his intervention halted the execution of 800 people detained in nationwide protests, calling his comments “completely false.” Officials have already said some detainees face death penalty charges.